Jenny G Perry reveals the ugly truth behind losing weight and how women should love themselves no matter what

JENNY was overweight, desperately unhappy and hated how she looked. So she lost weight - a lot of it - and learned to love herself. But she wasn't ready for what came next.

DEBRA KILLALEA

NewsComAuJanuary 23, 20141:53pm

Don't compare yourself to others

Jenny G Perry says comparing yourself to others will get you nowhere. Run your own race and you'll soon make some ground. Courtesy Youtube/Jenny G Perry.

A MOTHER-OF-FOUR who lost almost 30kg in six months has revealed the true cost of her dramatic transformation and the ugly truth behind being pretty.

Jenny G Perry, who describes herself on Twitter as a lover of life and always on a spiritual quest, said it took a lot of work to lose weight and to get to the happy place in life where she is today.

But the blogger and author of The Jennifers also reveals the transformation wasn't all sweet and rosy.

Admitting she had let herself go, and with two kids at the time, Perry from Jersey Shores, craved too much sugar, was frumpy with highlights and cared way too much about what other women thought of her.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Perry admits she hated the way she looked but that at least she fitted in.

"I knew I was wearing a size 14 and at five feet tall, it looked like I was wearing an even bigger size. I had a double chin and knew if I didn't stop this weight train, I'd be even bigger," she wrote.

Embarking on a mission to lose weight and to transform her life, Perry dropped the weight, changed how she ate and worked out like crazy and felt pretty "except for a few ugly things."

She said some of the other mums began to joke that if she continued to lose weight they would stop hanging out with her.

"There was a judgment thing going on and of course jealousy could have been behind it," she wrote.

"Also, people don't like when we change. It bugs them out. It makes them confront certain parts of themselves they think they can't change. Many times when a woman would see I lost weight, she would tell me how they should lose weight or give me excuses why they haven't. I never knew what to say."

She also goes on to write how she wasn't prepared for the male attention she received and how long it would take her to feel comfortable in her new skin.

"The other side effect I was not ready for was that creepy guys stared at me randomly, making me feel uncomfortable and naked," she writes.

"I had gone from one person people saw, an overweight woman, to the cute young thing. I had also started growing my hair longer and dressing younger, and so I looked more my age."

She also reveals how it took adjusting while she was trying to figure out who she was but felt guys took her more seriously when she was thinner.

News_Image_File: The writer said she is much happier following her weight loss. Picture: Facebook

Perry, who wrote the original piece "some time ago", wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday that it remained an honest and raw look at how she felt at the time.

The writer also said the underlying message was that women had to learn how to love themselves no matter how they looked and that true beauty came from inside.

The reprinted article, which she links to on her Facebook page, has received a raft of positive responses including from one woman who lost 80kg and felt the same way she does now.

But Perry, who admits she was once bulimic and obsessed with food, warns that things didn't necessarily get better once the weight drops off.

In another recent Facebook post, she reflects on her dramatic change and said women had to change their outlook mentally as well as physically.

"I am here to tell anyone that if you think losing weight is the answer to your prayers, but you do not LOVE yourself now ... you will not love yourself after you have lost the weight. As the pounds fell away, like armour to reveal that inside I truly hated myself. I found an endless supply of self-loathing. I could not tell you why I should love myself. The concept of self-love I could understand as much as I could understand if you spoke Japanese to me right now.

"Now at 36, after I did the inner work I love myself no matter what. I have had two children since then and I am pregnant again. I love every cell of my body now. I love every dimple and wrinkle."

Another post encourages others to love and honour their bodies and that it wasn't easy for "this skinny b**** to be happy".

"I know what it's like to overweight, frustrated, be mad at yourself and the world, and to feel hopeless. I thought I was stuck. You're never stuck, you're just on pause. Take a deep breath, give yourself a hug, and take one positive step today. Much love!"